Interviews

1. What Makes Japanese Cooking In Peru Interesting (Japanese)

2. Integrating As First-Generation Japanese-Peruvian (Japanese)

3. Peru Representative vs. Japan Representative (Japanese)

4. What’s Next as a Chef (Japanese)

5. Japanese-Peruvian Cuisine (Japanese)

6. World-Renowned Peruvian Cuisine (Japanese)

7. Fusion Cuisine (Japanese)

8. Thoughts on Japan (Japanese)

9. Bento menu for hostage incident (Japanese)

10. Delivering Dinner for Former President Fujimori (Japanese)

11. Inspirations for Living Abroad (Japanese)

12. Memories of the Late Yoshitaro Amano (Japanese)

13. Difference Between Past Immigrants and Today’s Immigrants (Japanese)

Toshiro Konishi

(b. 1962) Japanese restaurant owner and chef in Peru

Inspirations for Living Abroad (Japanese)

(Japanese) One reason I thought about moving abroad was Rocky Aoki. Rocky Aoki. Another reason was a racer named Tetsu Ikuzawa. And there was also a bullfighter named Mitsuya. He was the first Japanese bullfighter. I came across them from a book called “Boy’s Life” that I read as a kid. There was something about various interesting Japanese people. I thought that was amazing. Even now, the thing I think is amazing is the guy who became a bullfighter. It’s such a closed society. An Asian monkey-type person can’t do that…become a bullfighter. But that guy did it. You know it turns out he was second-generation Peruvian-Japanese.

I’ve had the chance to meet Rocky. Actually, I’ve met each of them. The guy named Mitsuya…his real name is Ricardo Higa. His Japanese first name is Mitsuya. I thought Mitsuya was his last name, but it was his first name. When he was still alive, he was the editor-in-chief of a newspaper. So their influence was extremely strong. When we were kids, too, we definitely had a desire to go overseas. That was especially true for the people of our generation.

One more thing was the dollar shock around 1972. Dollar shock. It went from 360 yen to 300 yen. And toilet paper disappeared from Japan. That’s how things were then. I thought things would work out if I put in the effort overseas.

generations immigrants immigration Issei Japan migration Peru

Date: April 18, 2007

Location: Lima, Peru

Interviewer: Ann Kaneko

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Toshiro Konishi was born on July 11, 1953, the fourth son of a long-established Japanese restaurant owner in Saito City, Miyazaki Prefecture. Having played in the kitchen from around the age of six, at 11-years-old, Konishi began helping out in the kitchen with other chef candidates. Then in 1971, at age 16, he headed to Tokyo and became a chef at the restaurant “Fumi”.

In 1974, he moved to Peru with Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, known in America, Japan, and elsewhere for his Japanese fusion cuisine at his restaurant, “Nobu”. After working at the Japanese restaurant “Matsuei” for ten years, he opened “Toshiro’s” and “Wako” in a Sheraton hotel in Lima. In 2002, he also became manager of “Sushi Bar Toshiro’s” in the San Isidro region.

Aside from running the restaurants, he taught at San Ignacio de Loyola University, participated in culinary festivals around the world, introduced innovative cuisine known as “Peruvian Fusion” (a mix of Japanese and Peruvian cuisines), and received numerous awards. In 2008 he became the first Japanese chef based in Latin America to receive the Japanese government’s Minister's Prize from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. (October 2009)